My first post came a week into this Fall’s soccer season, and as you may recall our early success was somewhat dampened by our second result at USNH. As it turned out, winning 5-1 in our first match may have been the worst thing that could have happened to us. Football is funny like that.

Now, with 11 games down and 7 to go, we stand with a record of 4-5-2. Not where we want to be, ideally, but with our in-conference record at 1-0-1 and the team improving from week to week, we are picking up momentum at a key moment in the season and heading into the remainder of our conference games with great confidence and desire.

Following our 3-0 defeat at Southern New Hampshire, we lost three more games on the bounce against American International, Stonehill and Holy Family, respectively. A 2-0 home win against UDC saw us look to turn things around, before another 3-0 loss (again in New Hampshire, this time at Saint Anselm College) left us with a lot to think about, and a lot of time to do it on the five hour journey back to Queens. At 2-5, I must admit our record made for troubling reading.

Three weeks on, we are unbeaten in our last four matches and have conceded just one goal. Needless to say our focus has been on the defensive end, but as a team we have been lifted by some impressive displays and guided by the continued work and direction of our coaches, who have been working just as hard as us, if not harder. A 16-0 win against a poor Lincoln University side got us off the mark and built up some confidence.  Following this was a hard-earned 1-1 tie at home versus Caldwell, and a 1-0 victory in our first conference game against Molloy College, in a game that truly went right down to the wire. Finally, this past Tuesday we travelled to Bridgeport, CT, to face nationally-ranked Saint Thomas Aquinas in a game that was rescheduled at short notice due to bad weather in the Tri-State area. We tied 0-0, but could well have won the game against a team that has gone unbeaten so far this season. To a man, we defended superbly and kept them at bay, while our forwards created some great chances that on another day would have seen us emerge victorious.

We have been reminded the first half of the season that confidence and belief play a huge role in this sport, as they do in any. This Saturday we face perhaps our toughest test so far with a home match against Dowling College, a team that have always been a force in our conference and that reached the Final Four of the NCAA Championship last year.

Make no mistake, we are ready to battle anyone that we meet. We have been given a new start and a new lease of life. It’s times like these that I realise just how lucky I am to be able to play on this stage. If you can make it this Saturday it would be great to see some new faces on the bleachers! Kick off is at 2:30 pm at the QC soccer field.

Below are a few more photos from some of the games mentioned, courtesy of some great work from our friends and supporters!